Nasal airflow engages central olfactory processing and shapes olfactory percepts.

Fangshu Yao, Yuting Ye, Wen Zhou

Proceedings. Biological sciences 2020 Oct 28

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Binding of airborne odour molecules to olfactory receptors at the top of the nasal cavity gives rise to our rich olfactory experience. Whether airflow plays a role in human olfactory perception beyond the transportation of odorants is scantly known. Combining psychophysical measures with strict controls of nasal flow parameters, we demonstrate in four experiments that the perceived intensity of a unilaterally presented odour decreases systematically with the amount of contralateral nasal airflow, in manners that are independent of odour flow rate, nasal pressure, perceived sniff vigour or attentional allocation. Moreover, the effect is due to the sensed rather than the factual amount of nasal flow, as applying a local anaesthetic to the contralateral nostril produces the same effect as physically blocking it. Our findings indicate that nasal flow spontaneously engages central olfactory processing and serves as an integral part of the olfactory percept in humans.

Citation

Fangshu Yao, Yuting Ye, Wen Zhou. Nasal airflow engages central olfactory processing and shapes olfactory percepts. Proceedings. Biological sciences. 2020 Oct 28;287(1937):20201772